The commission voted to fire Spirito for cause after a three-hour closed-door meeting Monday.

It took the action after following up on interim findings by state auditors who are reviewing the commission's 2014 decision to use taxpayer funds to pay off a $4.5 million debt owed by People Express Airlines to TowneBank.

But the grounds for Spirito's firing did not include his recommendation on the People Express loan. None of the commissioners who decided to use public funds to cover that debt remain on the board.

Spirito, who was paid an annual salary of $223,939 and received a monthly car allowance of $810, did not reply to messages left on his cellphone and home number. He did not attend the commission meeting.

Daily Press reports about the commission's repayment of that $4.5 million People Express loan, which Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne called the largest unauthorized use of state airport funds, prompted a state audit that expanded to cover a wide range of commission activity. The audit is still underway.

In the course of that audit and after consulting its own records, the commission found that Spirito:

•used commission funds to buy a warranty plan for his personal vehicle and then withheld $808.06 he received from the warranty issuer when he sold the vehicle, claiming the $1,756.15 warranty as an expense for vehicle maintenance.

•used $1,636.76 in commission funds to pay for body work and paint on his vehicle and another that he rear-ended in November 2015. That prompted the commission to comment that "body work to your car is not 'vehicle maintenance,' and if you thought so you should have fully disclosed your invoices ... more fundamentally, body work to the (other) motorist's car is not 'vehicle maintenance.'"

•used $1,849.75 of commission funds to pay for body work on his personal vehicle after an August 2015 accident.

•authorized a commission payment of $1,513.20 to pay for repairs to the vehicle of airport marketing director Jessica Wharton.

In a letter to Spirito, the commission demanded he repay these sums.

In addition, the letter noted that Spirito never responded to its request that he show the calculations used to support a monthly $500 supplemental payment toward his personal income tax.

It also noted that he said he was authorized to unilaterally change the commission's personnel manual to pay educational expenses for Wharton.

The letter also said the Spirito hid employee compensation in the airport's fuel expense account, exposing those employees and the commission to pay back taxes, and to possible interest and penalty payments.

"Your actions are so egregious and detrimental to the interests of the PAC that it will not provide any opportunity to cure," the commission's letter to Spirito said, using the legal jargon for an action to fix a problem.

Commission chairman George Wallace said the board had no choice but to fire Spirito.

Asked if the commission planned any actions in response to the People Express loan payment, Wallace said that was still to be determined. He said that would depend on results of the audit, which state officials say they hope to complete this month.

The commission used $3.5 million of state funds to help pay off the TowneBank loan, as well as $700,000 from the Regional Air Service Enhancement Committee, a regional body funded by local governments that tries to woo airlines to the airport. That move prompted Hampton, James City County and York County to put a hold on their contributions to the group. The commission also used $300,000 of federal funds meant to pay for marketing and to guarantee revenue for the People Express service.

The airport commission decided to use taxpayer funds to guarantee the loan to People Express in a closed-door meeting but only voted in public to authorize then-Chairwoman LaDonna Finch to take whatever steps she deemed necessary to provide adequate air service at the airport. The broadly worded motion was written by the commission's attorney at the time, Herbert V. Kelly Jr. who was a member of TowneBank's Peninsula Board.

By that time, People Express had been promising to bring air service to New York and Boston for two years. The airline postponed its originally announced summer 2012 start date after federal regulators fined it $10,000 for illegal sales of memberships in a travel club. The airline had been sued in several courts for unpaid bills.

In the 12 days that followed the signing of the loan guarantee agreement, People Express drew about $3.5 million on the line of credit. It drew an additional million in the three months before it stopped flying.

Spirito and then-commission member Jim Bourey said they felt the loan guarantee was a prudent decision. Bourey resigned from the commission in March, just before the meeting at which the commission put Spirito on unpaid administrative leave and ordered its bank to provide financial records to state auditors. Bourey resigned as city manager of Newport News a few days later.